Imagine our surprise when our Mopar-loving father in law was looking through an old copy of Hot Rod magazine from 1969 and found the GM ad below. The ad is for an “experimental” model called the Stir-Lec 1 and it is a freaking hybrid, using a Stirling engine to generate electricity for the batteries that actually provide the power for the car.
We’ve never heard of this thing before, haven’t seen any photos, and didn’t know that it existed at all, and we’re kind of blown away that the company has not at least made mention of it with the promotion it has been doing with the upcoming and much anticipated Volt.
Sure, in terms of the technology of today this thing is about as crude as a concrete block, but it must have been space-aged stuff back in the late 1960s.
The whole thing was packaged up in an Opel Kadett body per the wording in the old advertisement.
Is there a chance that this car is buried in the basement of a GM engineering building? Did it ever actually exist as a real car? Does anyone know anything more about this project?
Once again, there’s nothing new under the sun. This is wild!
Curious if it was a engineering or marketing failure.
GM has been in the hybrid business since 1930.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electro-Motive_Diesel#History
Notice it says . . . of speeds up to 55 MPH. In 1969, highway speeds were 65/70 MPH.
They really need to dust off whatever they have left on this.
Did you know Ferdinand Porsche had a fully running hybrid on the road ….. in 1906 ?
So much for GMs …. innovations 😉
Yep.
Technology that took a few Germans all the way to Russia in just a couple of tanks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elefant
hah! thought it looked like a Holden Gemini in the side profile! Aussies got a development of the Opel Kadett and renamed it the Gemini…. GM stole a few Opels over the years… Commodores were nicked off an Opel too.
The America that was. You would think they would have made it known years ago that they had it first,but no.
I wonder what the Helium reservoir is for?
I’m guessing that it was working as a coolant for either the generator, electric drive motor, batteries, capacitor, or inverter.
Stirling engines are an external combustion design – basically, Stirling tried to take the Carnot engine, which had been a theoretical yardstick for how efficient you could possibly get an engine to run, and actually build one. It’s similar to a steam engine in that the working fluid isn’t in direct contact with the heat source. They’re a bit more efficient if you fill the cylinders with helium.